Once More
by Negaigoto
Summary: Lelouch and C.C. are the smartest at Ashford Academy. They are are also the most stubborn and competitive. When they are forced to work together, they begin to build a new friendship. A friendship that brought them together, AU, probably OOC CC x Lelouch
1. Day 0: Passing

Description: Lelouch and C.C. are the smartest at Ashford Academy. They are are also the most stubborn and competitive. When they are forced to work together, they begin to build a new friendship. A friendship that brought them together. Lelouch's perspective, AU, possible OOC

A/N: This has been stewing in the back of my head for a while now, and now that I realize I have the support of a couple readers through their positive review of my one shot collection, Lessons, I've gained the courage to post this story up as well. I have plans for a sequel if this story follows the outline I've laid out. Then without further ado I present: Once More, title subject to change.

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Day 0: Passing

I saw her daily in the halls on the way to class. It was strangely surreal in actuality. We knew each other quite well. But at the same time, we knew nothing about the other. I saw her daily in class, her name on the list of top scorers, her face in the pictures of the achievements she's earned. Yet, we're rivals, and have never spoken to each other once. She gives off the impression of being cold as ice, yet she's one of the most popular girls at school. Who wouldn't find that queer? I admit, she's a striking beauty, with piercing golden eyes and flowing green hair. I'm not surprised she gets confessions every other week. What is surprising is that she's turned each one of them down, not even giving them a second look.

I also see that she often eats alone, away from the others. When I wander around the school grounds, I would often find her lounging in one of the unused classrooms, and she would either be either sleeping, reading, or staring off into space. Who wouldn't find that strange? Of course, I suppose it was nice to have someone to compete with. It gave me my motivation. The top grades weren't worth much if you didn't have the pleasure of beating someone to the top. Of course, our grades were often neck and neck anyways, so it didn't really quite matter.

I often wondered how she thought. She never seemed to give the teacher a straight answer when asked one. Her name is also strange. Who calls themselves C2? She spells it C.C. but pronounces it C2. It's just one of those things that I shall probably never get in my lifetime. These days though, this passing has been bothering me. We never look each other in the eye, we've never spoken, we've never argued. It was such a queer relationship if we are supposedly rivals.

The bell rang. I sighed and proceeded to move on to my next class: Advanced Physics. It was a pain in the ass, but I studied and did the work. Grudgingly of course! But I still did it. As it so happened, I also sit next to C.C. in this class. Though whether being two meters away from her counts as next to, I'll leave that up to you. Maybe today, I would get a chance to talk to her. She was very interesting after all. Besides, aren't you suppose to know all that you can about your rival? Their weaknesses and their strengths, their history, their goals, whatever; knowledge after all, is power.

I sighed again. Today was another boring day. I snuck a glance in her direction and saw she had her head down and was doodling on a piece of paper. Apparently, she was just as bored as I was. She had a scowl of annoyance on her face and seemed restless. I looked around the room; everyone else was busy feverishly taking notes. I smirked. They were below me, didn't deserve my attention. Classmates? They didn't deserve that title. Being classmates implies equality. We sure as hell weren't equal. C.C. on the other hand… She was an opponent, one I should treat cautiously, but with respect. There were many that I thought of this way, but she was the only one I truly respected. I have my friends, those on the student council. They were exempt from my thoughts, I had known them for so long and were used to them. It was refreshing really, to have friends.

"C.C.! Lelouch!" the teacher called out, "You two will be partners for the next project, it will be due in a week's time."

I snapped out of my thinking daze. What? Did what I think happened, just happen? I glanced in her direction and saw her return a wary gaze in mine. Her eyes were like steel, as cold and sharp as a blade. She turned back to her doodle and crumpled it, dropping it into the waste basket next to her desk. We nodded our heads acknowledging that we understood and continued about our daily routine. Inside, however, I was excited. This might be my chance! To be to first to unravel the mystery behind her was a thought that I relished.

Class seemed to drag on forever. Finally the bell rang and I grabbed my things and threw them into my bag. I walked over to her and extended my hand in greeting.

"It's a pleasure to finally be working with you." I said with a smile. She coldly walked past me and left the room. I was instantly annoyed by her rudeness. I dropped by hand and followed her out silently. I continued following her through the hallway until she suddenly stopped and turned around.

"Don't follow me." She said in a flat voice, "I don't speak with arrogant bastards." And with that she continued on her way. I stood there, stunned. That girl had the nerve! The nerve to call me arrogant! I ground my teeth together and turned around heading back to my dorm. Nunnanlly wouldn't be coming be to Ashford for another year, so I temporarily vacated the Ashford's guest house. She was currently with my mother in France, learning etiquette for use in the royal courts. I couldn't be bothered with such things as I had school. Feh, thinking about it gave me a headache. My father would be sending for me within the next few years hoping for me to follow in his footsteps. The hell I would. I had enough brothers and sisters for that purpose. Besides, there was no hope for me to become the crown prince. After all, I was the seventeenth in line for the throne.

I'll digress at this point, before I blow a gasket. I sighed and unlocked the door to my dorm. At the very least, I didn't need to share the room, being the Head Prefect did have its advantages. Add to those privileges, the privileges of the Vice President of the student council made for quite comfortable living arrangements. That and that fact that my mother is a friend of the Ashfords also helped. I dropped my bag on the floor and began to type up my essay for Literature. After spending over an hour on the essay, I printed it out and began to work on my proof of the Chaos Theory. After I finished that, I decided to muse over the whole C.C. issue. After all, I am expected to work with her after all, though in retrospect, we could probably do it alone and separately, and still achieve the same result. However, while I know that fact, it doesn't change the fact that I am genuinely interested in that girl. She might prove to be the first challenging opponent that I will face. It excited me to just think about it.

Of course, I was also genuinely interested in becoming acquainted with her at the least. Another smart and powerful ally might prove to be useful in the future. Heh, I could feel my excitement rising. This game was on, and now, I might've found someone truly interesting to play with.

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Well, that's it for chapter one. I'll probably lengthen the chapters as I go on, but for now you'll have to enjoy the 1000 or so words of the actual chapter. Please R&R  I appreciate the comments and they do motivate me to write.


	2. Day 1: Stumbling

Description: Lelouch and C.C. are the smartest at Ashford Academy. They are are also the most stubborn and competitive. When they are forced to work together, they begin to build a new friendship. A friendship that would bring them together. Told from Lelouch's Perspective, AU, possible OOC

A/N: Well, hopefully two days isn't a long wait, because you'll have to get used to 3 – 5 days between updates  Only don't expect any updates next week as I have state testing so I'll be busy with that. Also, I've decided to change the title formats from chapters to Days. Chapter one was Day 0 as that was the day he was assigned the project, Day 1 is the first day they work together. And so on, check my author page if you want details.

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Day 1: Stumbling

It was another troublesome day, and bound to be an interesting day. How did I know this? My desk had single typed sheet of paper on it. What was so special about that paper? It was a schedule of the meeting times and places that C.C. had planned out, without my consent of course. Why was that so troublesome? The times on her sheet, directly conflicted with my schedule for the rest of the week. I gritted my teeth in frustration. That girl really was something. She managed to find out this much about me while I had yet to have any dirt on her. I sighed knowing this project would be hell and that I would end up just doing it myself in order to get a grade on it. No, that's not how I should think! She's gotten to me, so now the time was ripe for me to strike back! Luckily, she didn't know that I planned to ditch all those student council meetings anyways.

She seemed to be faintly amused, with a small smile gracing her porcelain face. I would wipe that smile right off. It was just like a game of chess. She might've taken my pawn, but she was about to lose a knight. I looked forward to our encounter later. It would be quite the faceoff. I smiled and waited with an almost animal-like excitement at what would happen next. Little did I know, it would be one of the most unexpected situations, one I would have never thought would happen.

As soon as the bell rang I got up and nonchalantly got up to go to lunch. As I was walking out the door, I felt hit the back of my head. I looked down and say a paper wad. I glared at C.C. and she gave me a smirk as she walked out the door. I picked up the paper, ignoring everyone else around me, and tossed it in the wastebasket, growing more annoyed. I quickly left classroom and walked over to the library to meet with that annoying witch. I have more colorful words that describe her, something that just might rhyme with witch, but I'll save it for later…

I gaze across the table. She's sitting there, working on her outline of the project. I've finished mine a while ago, but she seems to be drafting and redrafting hers. Perhaps another one of her tricks to torment me? I do not know, nor do I really care at this point. We've been locked in a stalemate for the past half an hour. Saying nothing to each other. Not looking at one another. We might as well be living in separate dimensions. As I sighed and got up to get a soft drink from the library's vending machine, the lights suddenly went out. Both of us freeze up and run to the doors. No luck, we were trapped all alone in one of the library's study rooms. As least the ventilation system was still online. We wouldn't be 

suffocating in this spacious box. I heard a loud bang and looked up. I stared in amazement. She was kicking the door in frustration.

"It won't work you know." I said lazily, trying to keep my cool, "Those things are made from hardened Sakuradite alloy and titanium. It could take a grenade and still be perfectly fine."

Knowing that fact didn't help, as it would take at least two hours in order to reset the school's failsafe systems and restore power. I know this because I've had to do it multiple times as vice-president of the student council. Unfortunately, that time was for the main school, the library was on an even lower priority grid and would take another three extra hours to restore.

"At. Least. I. Am. Trying. Something." She said through gritted teeth, "The last thing I want is to spend an unknown amount of extra time with you!"

She let that hang in the air for a while before she gave a "hmph", and returned to her desk. For a while we just sat there glaring at one another. I sighed and pulled out my chess set from my school book-bag.

"Do you play?" I inquired, "We'll need something to do while we wait for the power to go back on."

"Chess is boring." She replied haughtily, "And shouldn't we just continue on the project?"

"We've finished the outlining, you yourself have finished it multiple times." I retorted, "We also do not have the materials to actually begin putting it together."

"…" She reached out and selected the black king and began to set up the pieces. I smiled, that was my victory right there. I would treasure it and note it in the back of my head. And so we played Chess, each match lasting around half an hour, I would win, and then she would win. We taunted each other, probing the other's thoughts. It become like a stumbling symphony finally coming together in synch and in harmony. It was much like a dance, with each of flowing to a different beat and different tune. Our games become much like a chorus, where we sang solos one after the other, until we brought down a roaring cacophony. We ended up tying the 51st game leaving us both at a twenty-five game win/lose ration with a single tie thrown in. How we tied, I have no idea. We ended up with only our kings somewhere throughout the melody and we stalemated for a while bored enough to begin a cat-and-mouse type of chase, switching turns to go on the offensive. She seemed more at ease now, as if used to my presence, maybe even more accepting?

"For an arrogant bastard, you're mediocre but you have some luck." I guess I was wrong, we'd gone nowhere in the past hour and a half. She sighed and looked at me with her piercing gaze, "When do you think we'll get out of here?"

"In a few more hours I would surmise..." I replied, as nonchalantly as I could. "Resetting the system isn't as easy as it seems."

She growled at that, and pouted angrily. It was an almost endearing sight, really, to see my "rival" so engrossed in her own thoughts that she had begun to let down some of the walls surrounding her. I reset the chess board and gave her a look. She ignored my gaze and pulled out a magazine from her backpack. I sighed and pulled out one of my three remaining water bottles and took a sparse drink from. I noticed her watching me out of the corner of her eyes. She was too proud to ask for a bottle, this I knew from my observations during the chess match. She never backed down and would always be trying to push my pieces to the edge and obliterate them. I sighed, and decided to do the right thing. I grabbed a bottle of water and tossed it to her. She caught it in surprise.

"Here," I said, looking away to avoid making eye contact, "Can't have my partner dying on me now, can I?"

She took a drink, and quietly muttered "Thanks." She sighed and went back to her magazine. Though the drink quenched my thirst, I needed food. I could feel the pangs of hunger starting to strike already. It was around dinner time now, and I needed food fast. She was also shifting around uneasily. I could tell she was hungry too.

"I want pizza…" She muttered quietly. I glanced at her and raised an eyebrow. Pizza? Who in their right mind thought about god damn PIZZA when trapped in a room which could double as a nuclear bomb shelter? She glared at me, "What? Is it wrong to be hungry when it has been hours since lunch?"

I sighed and didn't bother to reply.

"Arrogant bastard…" My head shot up at that remark and I snapped back at her.

"What are you on about? What have I done to you that can justify you, of all people, to call me an arrogant bastard?" I was getting angry now. It was an insult the first time, a taunt the second time, and now it was coming out of nowhere.

"I don't need to tell you." She muttered gazing stonily at the wall.

"…" I gave up on the matter, and went back to playing against myself in chess.

"That's why…" She murmured, still looking down at her magazine. I look up again, feeling another twinge of annoyance at that girl.

"What's why?" I ask, letting my feelings enter my normally calm voice, "What's the goddamn reason why you dislike me so much?" She stared at me for a while before giving in.

"You've never talked to me before, or shown me any sort of attention before this whole rival rumor started… That thing I started, hoping you would notice me!" she said, in a sort of strangled voice, as if she was forcing herself to say it. "You never really cared, then you suddenly out of nowhere, turn up the charm and try and act like we've been buddies all along. It makes me sick."

I was shocked. My brain seemed to have shut off from the overload of the shock. We both went silent for quite some time. She looked as if she was ready to break down any moment. We continued to let the silence ring, and I finally decided to do something to rectify the situation.

"I'm sorry." I said softly. Her head shot up like a bullet and gazed at me with surprise. "Truth be told, you always seemed so intimidating and unapproachable. I've always noticed you."

I felt my face growing red. It wasn't like me to admit myself to be wrong, even if admitting it was the right thing to do. In retrospect, she was right, I had been arrogant to not talk to her, but intimidation was truly another one of the factors. I gazed at her; she looked away and was turning red. She seemed to be more relaxed all of a sudden.

"Thanks…" She murmured. That seemed to be all she could say. She seemed to be shivering. I noticed the sudden drop of temperature. They must've have gotten the AC back on. I took off my uniform jacket, walked around to her side of the desk, and draped it around her shoulders. My ears turned red. I continued to tell myself that it was the right thing to do.

"You men and your machoness…" She whispered, smiling slightly now. "I'll never understand it."

She gripped the jacket tightly though, and wrapped it fully around her petite frame. I walked back to my bag and rummaged around for a couple of snacks that I kept there in case of an emergency. I passed a bag of pizza snacks across the table and looked away. She took it gratefully and ate it as slowly as she could.

Suddenly all the lights went back on. I immediately tried the door and it opened, letting in that old papery smell of freedom. I let her out first and followed grabbing my chess set and bag from the table and floor respectively. I felt the circulation return to my legs and tripped to limp through with the pins and needles sensation. C.C. left without a backwards glance. I felt a little sad actually. Maybe all that talk inside there was just random venting? I headed to the bathroom to relieve myself. I then washed my hands and headed to the cafeteria, hoping to grab a late dinner. I checked my watch in the elevator, and saw that it was only 8:45. I still had a little over an hour to collect my meal. I walked into the cafeteria and saw that there was only the occasional person here and there. I grabbed a plate of spaghetti and a small salad, paying for it with my id card.

"Lelouch," I turned around at the sound of my name being called and saw C.C. looking at me. I walked over to her and sat down. She seemed to start to say something, but stopped halfway through. I gazed at her curiously.

"What did you need?" I asked her, as straight-forward as I could be.

"Your phone number." Well, I wasn't expecting that, but I wrote it down on one of my napkins and gave it to her. She gave me a small smile and went back to eating her pizza. I sighed and began to wonder, could this be a start of a new friendship?

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A/N: AHHHH, sorry it took so long for me to update. I scraped the original chapter as I didn't like the flow that it was taking. It also kinda messed with my outline. I hope this was satisfying enough. I'm so sorry again. Please read and review then :)


	3. Day 2: Leap of Faith

Description: Lelouch and C.C. are the smartest at Ashford Academy. They are are also the most stubborn and competitive. When they are forced to work together, they begin to build a new friendship. A friendship that brought them together, AU, probably OOC, CC x Lelouch

A/n: Okay, I lied, I have the third chapter completely done, so I might as well release it ne? Still the rest of Once More is on Hiatus. Please ignore the science here, it's completely made up, though some of it is indeed real, most of it is crap. Also, I'm taking liberties with the story, this isn't really day two, and the project's been extended to 3 weeks. This means there will be jumps in time. Also, Lelouch and C.C. are both 16 in this story, that's important for later :)

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Day 2: Leap of Faith

"You're an idiot! That equation would leave us with a deficit of energy!"

"You're the idiot! I've accounted for all the atoms and potential chemical energy!"

"You're a moron! You've left out at least 5 of the hydrogen ions!"

"Which were used to create electricity and turned into H2O!"

"But you don't account for where the energy went or what created it!"

We stood there, glaring at each other. Our physics project was deeply rooted into chemistry for some odd reason. We knew not why but we just accepted it. At least energy conversions and such were physics related.

"Even if your equation works, the Sakuradite wouldn't be able to pump enough energy through the system, thus nullifying the point of the project!"

What was the project? It was a demonstration of how to create a more cost effective energy filler for the Knightmare frames that were used to police the countries. In truth, this sort of thing actually interested me. Picking apart the flaws of others and creating something better gave me a sense of smugness and pride. This is probably why C.C. still thinks of me as arrogant, and probably why she's still yelling at me telling me how I've screwed up the math…

"If we we're to use a higher quality ore than it would be able to generate more energy, as more energy would be able to move through the core." I replied patiently. "And it is possible to refine or enrich the Sakuradite and still make the energy fillers cheaper."

"Are you retarded? A refining process would reduce the amount of ore thus creating zero increases in energy output. And enriching the Sakuradite? You'd make it into a nuclear bomb! The instant you pulsed any sort of hydrogen ion through it, you'd get enough fallout to engulf Tokyo!" She snapped back.

And thus, we glared at one another again. This was getting us nowhere; we had already procured an empty energy filler, extra high quality Sakuradite ore, and a pulse generator. Now, the only problem was that we couldn't decide on how to put it together in order to maximize the energy output. I sighed and took a look over our three page long conversions and calculations.

"Currently, standard energy fillers can store up to three trillion kilowatts of hydrogen, enough to run a Knightmare frame for about 5 hours. Less if they were to use pulse weapons or float systems." I recited from memory.

"Our current projected output with your equation would be around three point five trillion kilowatts of hydrogen. However, the production costs would be nearly double the cost of regular energy fillers." She replied, glancing as she compared the numbers between my laptop and hers.

"Let's take the rest of the day off, we've been at it for hours." I said to her. "It's Saturday, and it's lunch, let's go grab a bite to eat."

She stood up and helped me gather the papers. Lucky that the teacher decided to give us two extra weeks since our project was so damn hard. I scooped up some of her neatly written equations and set them in a neat pile on the side. She silently dropped them into a folder and shoved it into her bag. I grabbed my papers and threw them into a binder and tossed that into my bag. We then both silently walked to the cafeteria.

She once again got pizza, and I decided to go with a garden salad and sandwich. It was peculiar; we'd been eating together for quite a while now. I found myself amazed our sudden attitude changes with each other. She wasn't open, but at least she never ignored me anymore. Likewise, I held my tongue more around her and didn't lash out at her as I would with others. We'd seem to have fallen into an uneasy peace. It was alright to me though. I enjoyed this quiet. It gave me time to think and time to get to know her better. She didn't talk much though, even though she was so animated when talking about studies. Maybe she didn't have time for anything else? I digress.

"Lelouch" She said suddenly, "What do you think of our relationship?"

It was a casual question, thrown out from left field. It caught me off guard and knocked the blood out of my brain. I struggled to come up with an answer when she suddenly laughed.

"No need to take it so seriously." She said giving me a faint smile, "I just want to know if you would consider this friendship?"

Was it friendship? Or were we just partners enjoying lunch everyday together? Either way, I liked it and hoped it wouldn't end.

"I don't know." I said with a blank expression, "I suppose only acquaintances as we don't really know each other well enough."

"Ah…" She said knowingly. "So the great Lelouch doesn't know all, does he?"

I mentally smacked myself. I had overly analyzed her question and fallen into her trap. It wouldn't happen again though, that I would promise her. I collected myself and let a faint grin grace my face. We ate in silence and let the languid peace continue for a while. We both finished at the same time and decided to retire to our rooms for a while.

As I sat at my chair, I began to wonder, just who exactly was C.C.? I had known her since I had transferred to the Ashford Academy branch in Japan. She tied with me for the highest entrance examination score, and was here on a scholarship. Also, every year she had been in at least one of my classes, and usually sat somewhere within two or three seats of me. She was quite a mystery now that I think about it. She had just suddenly appeared in the corner of my life, always lurking there. Oh well… She seemed like a decent person at least. Intellectual for sure! I wouldn't even consider double crossing her. There was no predicting what she could do to me. As I mulled in these thoughts there was a sudden rap on my door. I hit the remote and C.C. walked in.

"I was wondering," She said rather quickly, "If you wanted to go out together right now?"

"Out where?" I asked, raising an eyebrow.

"The plaza stupid," She said playfully, "We need to get more supplies for our project."

That was a lie, and I knew it. We had enough supplies in the student supply store on campus. However, I decided to see how this would play out.

"Alright," I said smiling faintly, "Let me change into something more suitable. I'll meet you by the gates in a couple minutes."

I got there early by a couple minutes, I checked my watch. At exactly nine minutes she began to walk over to me, and by the time the seconds hand had completed another revolution, we were walking towards the plaza shopping wall about a block away. We walked in awkward silence, unsure how to deal with being together outside of school. Suddenly though she took my hand, and I instinctively squeezed it. We looked at each other and gave a nervous laugh. When we started off again, it was a different kind of silence. It felt more natural, and I must admit, my heart my soaring at that moment.

It became clear quite rapidly that we were not shopping for any sort of school supplies. She began to drag me around the plaza window shopping. I must've seen more dresses and clothes in those couple of hours than in my entire life. It was insanity! But I kept my cool and let her have her way. She seemed more animated now, and it gave her a sort of cute look on her face. She glanced up and blushed when she saw me staring at her. We held our gaze for a while, and I unconsciously started to lean down towards her, but suddenly there was an explosion from behind us.

Instinctively, I grabbed her and dived behind a pillar. Her eyes were wide in shock and people were screaming everywhere. I clutched her close and waited for the riot squads to come pick us up. I felt my adrenaline rush slowly dissipate and I wearily picked C.C. up and pulled her behind the newly erected barricade. I glanced at her as we were checked out and sent back to school, her face was ghostly and her eyes were squeezed shut. I brought her to her room, and swiped the keycard hanging on her purse through the lock and gently deposited her on the bed. As I got up to leave she suddenly sat up and said:

"Don't go…" She called out softly, looking at the floor. "Please don't leave me…"

I glanced back surprised and moved back towards her. I awkwardly wrapped an arm around her shoulders and she buried herself into my chest. I held her until she suddenly pushed me off. I looked at her in surprise. I was about to ask what was wrong when she began again.

"Do you want to know why that bomb freaked me out?" She asked quietly, seemingly embarrassed by it. I nodded my head. She sighed and went on, "Then don't interrupt for a while, alright?" I nodded and she took a deep breath and started.

"When I was five, I lived with my mom and dad and we weren't the best off family. We we're constantly moving around and we eventually settled down in Kyoto. A couple weeks later, when I was at school, my mom and dad died in a bombing.

"It turned out that the bomb was caused by those we rejected the alliance with Britannia and wanted them out of Japan. I was so confused at the time. Everything seemed okay to me. What was it that made the Japanese so angry that we had an alliance with Britannia?

"I still don't know, but that bomb… It just brought back so many memories… The terror that I felt… If I hadn't been taken in by my new family… I would've died all alone…"

She stopped abruptly.

"Sorry… Now I'm not making any sense…" She mumbled.

"It's alright." I said softly, "As long as it doesn't bother you that I'm a Britannian."

She shook her head and buried herself into my uniform again. I gently stroked her hair and held her close.

"Hey…" I whispered, "You don't need to be scared when I'm around okay?"

I felt myself blush, what the hell kinda cheesy thought was that? I sighed again, and held her tight. She was so warm… Suddenly I found myself in deep kiss. I opened my eyes in shock. She held it for a while before gently moving off. She turned away and her face turned bright red. I pushed her onto the bed and we locked gazes with each other. I leaned down and did what I tried to do in the plaza. Those minutes and seconds were pure paradise. Something unexpected flared up in me. It was an incredibly feeling. One I did not expect after only talking with her for so short a time period.

She was fast asleep now, looking blissful and beautiful. I find a sudden weariness overtake me and I collapsed next to her, our hands locked together.

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A/n: Well, it's a change now isn't it? Next chapter really won't be out till June or super late May :D Please R&R, expect a new Lesson's chapter out by tommorow


	4. Day 3: Surrender

Description: Lelouch and C.C. are the smartest at Ashford Academy. They are also the most stubborn and competitive. When they are forced to work together, they begin to build a new friendship. A friendship that brought them together, AU, probably OOC, CC x Lelouch

A/N: A Also, this story is going a lot faster than expected, I wouldn't be able to expand on much so I'm cutting out of the scenes that, imo, actually TAKE AWAY from the story, thus this story has been shortened quite a bit. Enjoy this next chapter. Also, in the middle the POV shifts to 3rd person as Lelouch is not there

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Day 3: Surrender

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I woke lazily, not wanting to turn off the alarm clock. Suddenly the noise stopped. I groggily opened up my eyes and looked up. C.C. was sitting up yawning and had turned off the alarm. I sleepily took in the room. It was mine. I gazed confusedly at her as she walked into the shower with a change of clothes. As she closed the bathroom door I remembered. Two days ago on Saturday, I had accidentally fallen asleep in her bed; with her. Needless to say she was not happy about it and I felt as if I had been bruised from head to toe most of yesterday. However, she grudgingly forgave me and after we had worked on the filler system for a few hours she had decided to promptly fall asleep on my bed. I think that was planned though… How else would she have known to bring a spare change of clothes?

I yawned myself and headed into the smaller second bathroom to take my morning shower. By the time I had finished with the morning routine she had already fully dressed out and was eating breakfast in the dining room. I grabbed a couple eggs and sausages from the platter and started to eat myself. It was quiet except for the ding of forks and the patter of water as it splashed against our cups. She finished first and left to her dorm to retrieve her books. I still had an hour to kill. I decided to take one of my customary walks around campus. For some reason… It appeared different to me. Could it be C.C.'s fault? I wouldn't put it past her to change how I perceive life and the world around me.

I gave it no further thought as I saw her waiting for me by the school's entrance. We walked silently through the halls ignoring the furtive and jealous stares of those around us. The boys, and some of the females, were glaring daggers at me, while the females were agape at C.C. If looks really could kill, C.C. and I wouldn't have made it through the door, much less the way to the Physics room. As we walked in, all eyes were on us as we took our separate seats. Class began as normal and was just as boring as normal. After turning in a short report on what we had achieved thus far, the teacher told us that the energy filler production company, Ragnarok, wanted to see a test of our improved recharger/energy production system. We sat there in shock. Such a reputable company wanted to see the work of a few students? It was mind-blowing.

"What do you think of that C.C.?" I asked getting more and more excited, "This is an excellent way to show to the world just how innovative we can get!"

She looked slightly troubled though and only gave me a noncommittal shrug. I gazed at her troubled, it wasn't like her to act this way. She was always full of cool confidence, now she had a worried look on her face and it just didn't suit her.

"Oi… It'll be fine!" I said, doing my best to cheer her up, "I'm sure we'll be able to stun them into silence with our genius!"

"Yeah…" She said, giving me a faint smile, "Thanks for worrying; I think I'm going to retire to my room."

I shrugged and we parted. I thought nothing of it. However, elsewhere…

--

"What's the meaning of this!" C.C. exclaimed, "Why are you interfering?"

"To observe your progress." A mysterious voice murmured through the phone.

C.C. clenched her fists and wanted to punch the wall next behind her.

"There is no need for this." She said coldly, "I can handle it on my own thank you very much."

"…" The voice sighed, "No need for such hostility, I get it, but it's too late, the wheels are already in motion and not even you can stop them."

"Whatever…"

"Know this though, you will complete what you've started, if you do not…"

"Got it, already knew that. You didn't need to remind me."

"Don't start falling for him now… Ah wait… It's too late isn't it? He's head over heels for you."

"How-?!"

"You know how…"

"…"

"Heh, I'll talk to you later."

The phone clicked. She sat there stunned for a moment; than in an uncharacteristic rage threw the phone against the wall, the hardened Sakuradite thudded onto the floor with not even a scratch…

--

"So I was thinking that we should get together tonight and start actually building our machine. It'll take quite a while to perfect and we'll need to do test run." I said nonchalantly taking a sip of soup while gazing at her.

"Sure…" She took a lackluster bite of her pizza and took a sip of soup from her own bowl. "I guess we'll meet around 7ish?"

"Yeah, that sounds like enough time to finish homework and take a quick shower."

"Mhmm…" She became quiet and looked out the window.

"Hey… What's wrong with you today? Every since the announcement that the teacher made you've been acting quite introverted; more so than when we weren't working together!" I asked cautiously. "Is there anything that I should know about?"

She shook her head and told me not to worry about her and that she was fine. Her words sounded empty and her eyes liked that fire. I reached out for her hand but she suddenly pulled back. I glanced at her, confused at what was going on.

"Hey… Are you sure you're okay?" I hesitantly asked, "Seriously, what's wrong?"

She looked away from my probing gaze. I sighed and didn't pursue the subject. We finished dinner in a depressing silence and we retreated to our rooms. I sighed again, and looked up at the ceiling wondering what I could do to help her out. What if she didn't want help though? What I only push her away more by attempting to rectify something that she obviously didn't want me to be involved in? I didn't know. And it pissed me off to no end.

I grudgingly did my homework and took the quick shower. By the time I was done dressing it was 6:50. I hurriedly rushed to the basement where we had been given space to create our system. We had finally got the plans done a couple of test variables that showed promise during initial simulations on our computers. Unfortunately, simulations will often not match up to real life results. Though we assumed the worst case scenario, we decided to go through with it anyways. Our projected input/output was just slightly above the average and would save factories roughly 30 of wasted time, money, and energy, which all add up to quite a chunk of change.

She arrived a few minutes late, quite unusual for her as punctual as she is. She pulled out her computer linked it to our small network of five and began to program the system running diagnostics and checking for syntax errors. I began to build the contraption. I created an input slot for the energy filler to connect to and built around it. Eventually after about two weeks of work, we had finally finished the contraption. According to simulations the code C.C. had made was flawless and would output at about 5 higher than what was predicted. Pleasing results, but we held no expectations till after the test run.

I ran the program and we held our breath. The machines whirred to life and the mechanical arm lifted the energy filler and slid it perfectly into the slot. I checked the diagnostic readings, so far so good. We had excellent connections on every single recharge and recycle port. Energy that couldn't be used by the Frames was sent back into the machine to split the hydrogen and cause the fusion reactors to begin. Energy levels were rising much faster than the projections had indicated but it slowly leveled off underneath one of the overheating limiters. Slowly the energy began to flow faster and faster back into 

the filler and in about 10 minutes, we had registered a maximum transfer of about 3.5 million kW of energy. The results were completely beyond our expectations! However, C.C. didn't look happy at all when she saw the projections. She murmured something about the code being a bit faulty and began to rework it inserting and removing code at a rapid pace. I gently wrapped my arms around her and I felt her press into me. At least I got a reaction out of her now…

"What exactly do you plan to change about your code?"

"The connections fluctuated slightly, I'm fixing that dilation in order to maximize the potential and minimize risk of a short." She replied softly but curtly, "Prevention measures such as these are what ensure safety."

"I see…" I actually did she what she was talking about, prevention of a short would the circuitry from frying which could ignite the filler which was has 3.5 million kW of potential hydrogen energy stored in it. That could create a loud explosion.

"I'm also programming in a failsafe to minimize explosive properties through vents in the energy filler design. If it works, when temperatures reach too high of a level, some hydrogen will be vented out to make way for Freon to chill it down and dampen the explosion."

I had to admit, that was quite an excellent idea, and I kicked myself for not thinking of it before. Whatever, the good thing about this project was that we're equals; we share the work and the credit. I knew though, that that if it boiled down to those last points, she would probably get them. I smiled melancholically and released her. She seemed to shiver slightly before regaining her composure.

"Night…" I called out to her as I walked up the stairs.

"Night." She replied as I opened the door.

Unknown to me, the instant I had turned my back she had turned away and the tears were already flowing. She wiped them off quickly though and tried to get back onto programming. She opened up her binder and saw a picture of the two of us enjoying ourselves at yesterday's carnival. She gently went over my face with her hand before dropping the folder back into her bag. She gazed up at the ceiling and let out a silent scream.

Elsewhere, I collapsed onto my bed, weary of the past weeks' events. The daily prickling glares of the students, the sudden coldness of C.C. They all spun around in my head, and I had no idea what to make of it. I glanced at my photograph of me and C.C. at the carnival. I gently touched her face. She looked so blissful yesterday, was it only for the picture? I wouldn't know now probably… I doubt she would answer me if I did ask her. It didn't concern me though… Not anymore at least… Time must move on…

I set my alarm and turned in my bed. Just as I was about to fall asleep my door slid open softly. I heard the muffled walking on the carpet and suddenly felt a warm weight on top of me. I kept my eyes closed and felt a teardrop hit my cheek. She gave me a quick kiss and walked out the door, letting it slide 

on close behind her. I opened my eyes, gazing mournfully at the wall. What was going on these days… Little did I know, something darker than I could have imagined was soon approaching.

--

A/n: The story is now jumping forward to its soon upcoming conclusion. I'm hoping that the plot twist will stun must of you. If it doesn't than I've probably given way to much away… Anyways R & R please thank you very much!


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